Photo taken on April 4 shows a notice of asking people to stay at home in Fairlight, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese officials on Monday slammed some Australian politicians' accusation of China over its transparency about the COVID-19 outbreak in following some forces in the US, saying the move reveals their ignorance and bigotry as well as a lack of independence.

The remarks came after Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne Sunday called for a probe into China's "transparency" before and throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, saying that her concern about these issues is at a "very high point," media reported.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton also demanded China provide Australians "clarity" about the origins of the coronavirus during an interview with Nine Network on Friday.

China expressed serious concerns and firm opposition to Payne's related speeches which are based on no facts, Geng Shuang, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference Monday.

Since the outbreak began, China has always acted in an open, transparent and responsible manner and taken a series of resolute, timely and forceful measures. It lost no time in reporting the outbreak to WHO, shared the genome sequence of the virus with other countries, and carried out international cooperation on epidemic prevention and control among experts of different countries, which has won plaudits from the international community, Geng noted.

Any doubt about China's transparency is not only inconsistent with the facts, but also disrespectful of the tremendous efforts and sacrifices of the Chinese people, he stressed.

The Chinese side has repeatedly stressed that the issue of the origin of the novel coronavirus is a serious question of science that should be studied by scientists and medical experts. We hope that the Australian side can treat this issue in an objective, scientific and scrupulous manner, Geng said.

As to Dutton's remarks, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Australia told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that Dutton abruptly became interested in "transparency" recently, which is curious. After an investigation, we found that he received some so-called information from Washington as some US personnel told him that they had obtained documents concerning the coronavirus' origin.

But what's strange is that Dutton said he did not see these documents. If so, why did he so urgently ask China to be "more transparent?" He must have received some orders from Washington requiring him to cooperate in the US' propaganda war against China, said the spokesperson.

Some people on the US side including some senior officials have been spreading information targeting China to smear and scapegoat China, said the spokesperson, noting that the move is neither moral nor helpful to solve the US' domestic problems.

Some Australian politicians parroted what those US forces have said and followed them to launch political attacks on China. Their move reveals the former's ignorance and bigotry as well as a lack of independence, which is sad, the spokesperson said.

Newspaper headline: Aussie officials following US to smear China show ‘bigotry’